1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system for printing molding information from a molding machine.
2. Description of the Related Art
In molding machines, e.g. injection molding machines, it is a generally accepted practice to display on a display screen, under the control of a control unit provided in the molding machine, various molding information including preset values such as molding conditions, and detected values (i.e., logging data) such as temperature, injection speed and resin pressure, showing a molding situation. In this connection, in order to print the molding information (molding conditions, logging data, picture data (such as hard copies of screens), etc.) on a medium such as a paper, a suitable printer unit is connected to the molding machine and the control unit of the molding machine commands the printing unit to print, because the conventional molding machine is not provided with a printing section as a component thereof.
For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 5-57748 (JP5-57748A) discloses an injection molding machine provided with a control unit capable of transmitting print data to various types of printers, in order to permit a desired type of printer selected by a user to be connected to the injection molding machine for use. This control unit is constructed in such a manner that a user can select a printer to be actually connected, from the plural types of previously registered printers, and provide a printing command to the control unit, whereby the control unit can transmit print data to the connected printer in a print output format (or a data transmission mode) adapted to the connected printer. In this arrangement, it is necessary to previously prepare a plurality of data transmission modes adapted to the plural types of printers in the control unit of the molding machine, which causes an inconvenience in handling. Also, there is a disadvantage that only printers previously registered can be used.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 4-175132 (JP4-175132A) discloses a group control system in which a plurality of injection molding machines are connected to a computer through a network, and in which a printer is connected to the computer so as to show and write all of the operating situations (or the events) of the injection molding machines together. In this system, the printer is structured in such a manner as to be able to print a single page containing an event-time writing area and event-contents writing areas corresponding respectively to the injection molding machines. If the events such as abnormal conditions occur in the respective molding machines, the printer prints the occurring times and contents of the events on the corresponding writing areas in real time by a time series expression. In this arrangement, a predetermined printer prints only the events such as abnormal conditions occurred in the respective molding machines on the single page, and thus the printer does not print, at any time, the molding information of the molding machine required by a user.